Reel cutting units are well known for use on greens mowers, fairway mowers and other mowers designed for precision grass cutting on golf courses and the like. Each cutting unit has a frame that mounts a rotatable cutting reel which sweeps grass against a sharpened bedknife to cut the grass. Front and rear rollers carried on the frame allow the cutting unit to roll over the ground. The cutting unit is linked to the mower and is propelled by the motion of the mower itself.
A grass groomer is an accessory that is often used on a reel cutting unit between the front roller and the cutting reel. The grass groomer comprises a rotatable grooming reel formed by a series of laterally spaced, toothed blades. The tips of the blades are offset relative to one another to form helical flights of blade tips that extend along the length of the grooming reel. The blade tips extend down into the grass below the height of cut.
As the grass groomer rotates during operation of the reel cutting unit, the blade tips cut horizontal grass growth called stolons. Cutting stolons produces new roots and tillers from the nodes, leading to healthier turf. The plants reaction to grooming is to develop a new growing point at the crown.
In addition, the blade tips pull up and remove thatch. The material cut and brought up by the groomer is then recut by the action of the cutting reel against the bedknife and is discharged from the cutting unit along with the rest of the grass clippings. It is well known that the use of a grass groomer to cut horizontal growth and to remove thatch improves the health of the turf and promotes the growth of the grass.
Because the grooming reel is made from a plurality of laterally spaced blades, the grass groomer acts on the turf at a plurality of laterally spaced, disconnected contact points along the length of the groomer. Each contact point is represented by the point where one blade contacts the turf. The blade tips will pull up and remove some of the material, particularly the horizontal growth, that lies between the contacts points of adjacent blades. However, some material lying between the contact points may be missed and not removed. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a grass groomer that acts on the turf more uniformly in the areas lying between the contact points of the laterally spaced groomer blades.